Throw
by jellyjay
Summary: She throws him over his shoulder like he's nothing more than a bag of potatoes, and it blows his mind in more ways than one.
1. I

**Everyone has to do a high school au at some point in their fanfiction writing career. SORRY NOT SORRY.**

_Throw_

**Facebook**

**Eren Jaeger **commented on his own status

**Eren Jaeger **with **Jean Kirschtein **and **Marco Bodt  
**I am an annoying little shit that no one likes  
_8 Likes_

**Eren Jaeger  
**Fuck you Jean

**New Text Message**

From: Eren

To: Jean, Marco

How the fuck did you two even get my phone

**New Text Message**

From: Jean

To: Eren

You make it too easy

x

Eren scowls at the screen and shoves his phone back into his pocket without bothering to reply. Jean is generally regarded as a dick by everyone, and, to be honest, Eren is mostly used to it – they are dicks to each other and they spend most days trying to piss the other off because it seems like the most entertaining thing to do. Today, though, is the wrong day to screw around because Eren is exhausted and he's late for a class and he's at least 80% sure he won't be forgiven for it. Judo is about discipline and he doubts very much that tardiness fits into that category.

The phone buzzes in his pocket again, but he ignores it in favour of dodging other people along the sidewalk. He's already ten minutes late (because of Jean, that asshole), and while his sensei, Hannes, is a family friend, every minute he's not there is another extra set of push ups, and he knows it.

He skids to a halt outside the building and races in, throwing his shoes off at the door and his bag into the free locker in the hall, and he's just about to fly into the boy's changing room when something that feels like a much smaller body slams into his chest and stumbles back onto the floor. In his haste, Eren trips over it and hits his head against something hard. Stars explode in his vision, and he's pretty sure he's swearing pretty badly right now but _fuck_ his head hurts and –

_"What the actual fuck?!"_

The voice is shrill and angry, and Eren winces, trying to force his vision to focus on the speaker.

He _thinks _it's a girl, it's hard to tell with imaginary lights popping in front his eyes but Eren's pretty sure he's seen her somewhere before, but he's not sure where. "Sorry," he manages, sort of awkwardly untangling himself from the mess. He holds a hand out to her. "I didn't see you – "

"Of course you fucking didn't," she snaps, ignoring his offer and getting to her feet on her own. "You're late, Jaeger."

Eren blinks at her, vision clearing slightly. "I know, sorry, I – "

She holds up a hand. "I don't care. You're late, and I think you gave me a concussion, so get the fuck ready before you make this worse for yourself."

Eren blinks again, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms to clear his sight, and when it does, he has to make a physical effort not to stare. It's a girl, all right, with bright, crystal blue eyes and pale blonde hair, and he's certain he knows her now – she sits two seats ahead of him in home room, and while she can be nice when she wants to be, she has a reputation of being cold and intolerant to bullshit (of which he's well aware he's full of). "Hold on a sec – _Annie?"_

Annie scowls at him. "Yes. Me. Congratulations."

He frowns a little. Annie's a loner at school, yes, but he's known her at least a couple of years now. She's one of the tiniest members of his home room class, and she usually presents herself as such - he can't say he'd ever imagined seeing her at a place like this. "You... train... here?"

"I don't," she snaps. "I work here."

Perhaps his head is still a little sore, but he blinks at her again and steps back. "You... _work_... here?"

"Holy shit, the rumours are true." She glares at him. "You're as clumsy as you are dumb."

Eren stares at her as if he's forgotten to function. In all honesty, he kind of has. He's not sure what to say at this point because Annie looks ready to murder him but he still feels _really_ confused and he'd really love an explanation as to what's going on. He opts for something in the middle. "Uh. Okay. Sorry about what happened. Where's Hannes-sensei?"

She's still glaring at him when she answers. "He's taking a couple of months off to recover from a knee injury. You would have known that if you were here on time."

"What?" Eren makes a face. "I can't train without an instructor – he would have called to cancel – "

Annie snorts loudly and it's obvious from her face that she's now equal parts amused and pissed off. She folds her arms across her chest. "You _are _an idiot, aren't you?"

Eren, evidently, is still trying to figure it out. " – maybe he got someone to cover for him. I wonder who it – " His stops abruptly. His eyes widen. The penny drops. "_Oh my God."_

Annie raises an eyebrow at him.

"_You._"

She smirks. "Me."

"_Fuck._"

x

Annie makes him do five sets of extra drills that night: two because he was late, one because he'd almost given her a concussion, and two more because he'd held up her – Hannes-sensei's – class. For someone his age, Eren has always considered himself pretty good at martial arts, but Annie – _holy shit, Annie _– she's on a different level entirely.

She's been in his home room class since he started high school, and he knows she's only a couple of ranks below Armin in Math and almost on par with Mikasa in gym, but he'd never, _ever_ expected someone who makes herself look small and delicate on purpose to be trained in three different kinds of martial arts, two of which he's never even heard of until tonight.

He walks home afterwards with an odd sort of limp and sore spots from when he'd landed badly after she'd tossed him over her shoulder like he was a bag of potatoes, and he thinks, for all her stoicism and her general sort of done-with-everyone's-shit attitude, she's actually kind of fucking _awesome_. It's funny, he thinks, that someone so small could kick his – and everyone else's – ass without so much as batting an eyelash.

He's still thinking about it when Mikasa opens the front door for him. It's quiet otherwise, and she doesn't need to tell him that she's the only one still awake.

"You're home late," she comments idly. "How was training?"

Eren makes an odd sort of sound in his throat that sounds somewhere in between an actual reply and a grunt of pain. He stumbles inside and collapses face forward onto the nearest couch.

His foster sister raises an eyebrow at him. "What happened to you?"

"Hannes is recovering from a knee injury," he tells her, voice muffled by the upholstery. "You'll never believe who's taking classes in his place."

"Annie is," says Mikasa, and Eren makes a noise of surprise and tilts his head up to look at her.

"How do you know that?"

She snorts and rolls her eyes at him before she heads into the kitchen. "Hannes called," she says, returning with a jar of cookies. "He said you weren't answering your phone."

"Is that what that was?" Eren wriggles his arm out from under him and pulls the phone out of the pocket of his uniform pants. He glances at the screen and makes a face at it when he spots the missed call. "Oh."

Mikasa smirks and offers him the jar. "So how was it?"

"Annie's a bully," he says, sitting up and accepting it gratefully, "but _holy fuck,_ Mikasa, she knows her shit."

"Oh?"

Eren nods and stuffs a cookie in his mouth. "She kicked the crap out of me."

"Like that's difficult to do to begin with," teases Mikasa, and she slips into the seat next to him and takes back the jar.

Eren shoots her a glare. "That's bullshit," he grumbles, propping his feet up on the coffee table. "She really does know her stuff though. Hannes wouldn't have asked her to do it if she didn't. It's just... unexpected, I guess."

"You probably should have had at least some idea." Mikasa tosses her hair back and pulls another cookie out of the jar. "Her dad owns the gym on the other side of town. I thought I told you that. Then again, it's you, so I'd hardly be surprised if you hadn't been listening."

Eren grunts a reply and tilts his head back against the cushions.

There's a little bit of a pause broken only by the sound of clock ticking from the corner of the room, and Mikasa heaves a sigh and shuts the lid of the cookie jar. She's never been much of a night owl, and it's a little surprising to Eren that she's up so late tonight, but she places the cookie jar on the coffee table and steps over his legs and towards the hall.

"I'm going to bed," she announces.

"Right," mumbles Eren.

Another pause.

"I noticed Jean got a hold of your phone again."

Eren scowls. "...Shut up."


	2. II

**II.**

**Facebook**

**Franz Hoffman **is in a relationship with **Hannah Blaire  
**_Sasha Braus and 12 others like this_.  
**Connie Springer**  
Fucking finally amirite  
_20 likes_

x

Mikasa doesn't quite understand why everyone else thinks it's so cute because she watches Franz and Hannah interact from across the cafeteria and honestly thinks they're the most awkward couple she's ever seen in her life. She'll agree that it's been a long time coming because she – and everyone else – has been seeing them dance around each other since seventh grade – but Franz is far too new at this and Hannah is far too shy to voice what she wants.

They're sitting alone at the table nearest the window, and Hannah's hand rests innocently on the table next to her tray while Franz sits across from her looking as if he doesn't know if he's allowed to reach over and touch her hand.

This frustrates Mikasa a lot because while she's generally against public displays of affection, for heaven's sakes, if you've become Facebook official, it's pretty frickin' obvious that hand holding is okay. She's about to introduce her forehead to the table when Eren plops down beside her with a groan.

She raises an eyebrow at him. "It's been two days and you're still sore?"

"No," he says defensively, taking an aggressive bite out of his apple. "...yes."

She frowns, concern wearing at her features. "Don't you think Annie may have been a little tough on you?"

Eren shrugs. "To be honest, I think she did pretty good. Maybe Hannes started easy on me because it's been a while since I've been this sore. It's a good kind of sore though, I promise."

This does little to ease Mikasa's worries, and she's pretty sure she's actually a little more concerned about it now. Eren has always had a habit of getting into fights, and the entire point of having him enrol in martial arts was so he'd be able to do it constructively. She thinks that maybe this has been more effective than anyone planned for, because now he actually sounds masochistic which she doesn't quite think is healthy, especially because this is Eren. She doesn't get a chance to say anything about it, though, because Armin slides into the seat across from them and greets them with a grin.

"Hey Armin," Eren says, swallowing a mouthful of apple. "Have you had a look through that assignment Miss Zoe handed out yet?"

Armin makes a face at him. "You're not going to copy off me again," he says outright, starting on his mac and cheese.

"What makes you think that's why I was asking?" Eren fakes a look of offense and tosses his apple core at the nearest bin. "Geez, Armin, I'm not that bad, am I?"

Armin gives him a look and Mikasa answers for him.

"Yes," she says. "Yes you are."

"Traitor," he grumbles, folding his arms petulantly across his chest. "I wasn't going to copy, I swear, I was just wondering if I could get a look at it so I could get an idea – "

"No, Eren," says Mikasa sternly. "You can't keep copying off us, do it yourself for once." She gives Armin a look and adds, "Don't you dare let him, if I hear he's got your assignment, I swear to God – "

"He's not going to get it," asserts Armin, and he glares at Eren. "She's right, Eren, you've gotta do this stuff on your own. You know you can get kicked out of college for that kind of thing."

Eren rolls his eyes. "Yeah, but I'm _not_ in college yet, am I?" He sighs. "Fine. Whatever. I'll do this one on my own and still pass, you'll see." Huffing stubbornly, he slumps in his chair and, to Armin and Mikasa's surprise, bolts straight upwards again when he spots Annie walking into the cafeteria. "Hey, look!"

The other two raise their eyebrows in unison.

Armin swivels around and spots her too. "It's Annie," he says, turning back to scrutinize Eren.

"Yeah." Eren shuffles a little and glances at them. "What?"

"Didn't she beat you up the other day?"

"Pffffffft." He waves a hand at them and gets up. "Nooo, she didn't beat me up. We just sparred. And I lost. But no, okay, she didn't beat me up – I'm gonna go talk to her."

Mikasa frowns at him and tugs him back down into his seat. "What's gotten into you?"

"What do you mean 'what's gotten into me?' She's our friend."

Armin looks at him like he's gone a little weird and Mikasa will be honest – she can't blame him. Eren's been acting a little funny since the day Annie took over Hannes' class – funnier than usual, that is because he's brought her and her skills up more than once a day since when he's never cared much about her before. Mikasa won't say she's jealous because she's not; she and Annie have always considered each other rivals, and maybe it does bother her a little that Eren evidently shows an appreciation for Annie's skills more than he's ever shown for hers, but it's notjealousy. Jealousy implies a fear of loss, and there's certainly none of that.

She shakes her head. "I really don't think she thinks of us as her friends," she says carefully. She exchanges glances with Armin, and they don't need to speak to know that it's really just the politest way to disagree.

Eren blinks at her. "We don't know that," he says, brushing her off and getting up again. "Seriously, it'll be fine. I just wanna talk about her techniques. I'll be back in like five minutes."

"Eren..." Miksasa calls after him, but he's already up and halfway across the cafeteria.

x

He's not back in five minutes. Mikasa's been watching the whole time, and actually, rather than have a quick chat like he said he would, he's followed her to the table she shares with Reiner Braun and Bertholdt Fubar on some days, and it's obvious, even from here, that Annie is not pleased about the gatecrasher to their table.

Mikasa can almost sympathize. She and Eren grew up together, and she knows better than anyone how quickly he can go from lazy-ass teenager to hyperactive five year old, and Annie Allergic-to-bullshit Leonhardt is not prepared for either one.

"Do you think we should do something about this?" Armin asks her, and she tears her eyes away from the other table to look at him.

"About what?"

Armin jerks his head in their direction. "Eren. Annie looks like she wants punch him in the face."

"Just leave him," says someone else before Mikasa can consider it. She glances up to see that Jean and Marco have come to join them, and that Jean's giving her the suavest grin he's got. "If she wants to beat him up, we can have lunch and a show."

Marco gives his best friend a look and rolls his eyes. "Bit early for Eren to start causing trouble, isn't it?"

Armin gives a sort of shrug in reply. "Bit," he agrees. "I don't think he really wants to cause trouble today, though. It's just... Annie's temper is pretty notorious."

"What's got him so interested in her all of a sudden?" Jean asks, slipping into the seat next to Mikasa and making an attempt at moving closer than he knows he's allowed.

Mikasa catches on quickly. She moves to lift her bag from the floor and drops it into the space between them before he can move any closer than she's comfortable. "His judo instructor's recovering from a knee injury." She ignores the disappointment on Jean's face. "Annie's the replacement."

Marco blinks. _"Really?"_

She nods. "From what I've heard, she's a rough teacher."

"She beat him up," translates Armin.

Jean pauses in his dejection for a second to snigger. "He got beat up by a girl?"

Mikasa eyes him sharply. "Do you need to be reminded that that's possible?" she threatens, and Jean makes an odd noise in his throat and snaps his mouth shut. Satisfied, she turns back to Armin and Marco. "You have home room with them, don't you, Marco? Do me a favour and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid?"

Marco raises an eyebrow at her, but he nods regardless. "Sure, I guess. But you know how Eren is – he's an idiot but he knows how to take care of himself. Plus, you know, Annie's mean sometimes but it's not like she'll do anything terrible. Don't worry too much about him, yeah?"

She huffs a little. "It's difficult not to when you know him as well as I do."

x

**New Text Message**

From: Eren

To: Mikasa

Annie said she'd teach me other stuff. I know it's not my usual training day but am heading to the dojo again with her after school. See you tonight.

x

Mikasa receives the text while she's finishing a physics exercise in Mr. Levi's class and she glares at her phone feeling more irritated about this than she should be. Eren's sixteen – he's free to do whatever the heck he feels like, but going to the dojo later with Annie means he'll be home late again in more pain than the other day.

They are foster siblings, and she loves him dearly, but not enough to want to deal with him when he's being a whiny dick who can't move because he's trained a little too hard, and that's exactly what he'll be tonight, and she knows it. She's a little annoyed too, actually, because hey Eren, she's pretty decent at hand-to-hand too, and they've been foster siblings since they were nine years old but okay, fine, ask Annie first.

She scowls at the text message and texts him back under the desk with an irritated _"Fine"_ before Mr. Levi can catch her with her phone out in the middle of class.

"Something the matter, Ackerman?"

Too late. "Uh." She shoves the phone in her pocket and glances up at her physics teacher. "Sorry, sir."

He scrutinizes her carefully and examines at the almost finished assignment on her desk. "I'd better not see that phone again," he warns, before he heads further down the room to check on other people's progress.

She waits until he's well out of earshot before she blows an irritated huff.

She's not _jealous,_ she reminds herself. She's _not_ because that would make her _petty,_ and she knows she's better than that. She's just as good as Annie – there's proof of that in the trophy cabinet outside the gym - and she's just as smart, if not smarter, and if Eren would really rather learn Annie's techniques than consult her about hers, then fine, whatever, she doesn't care.

She doesn't realize that she's gripping her pencil a little too tightly until Sasha, who's sitting nearest to her on the bench, taps her shoulder.

"You okay, Mikasa?" she whispers. "I know this phys assignment is frustrating but don't break your pencil over it."

Mikasa scowls again. "It's fine," she snaps through gritted teeth, and she rounds on the other girl and glares at her without really meaning to, and Sasha blinks and holds up her hands.

"Whoa, okay, sorry."

Mikasa sighs. "No, Sasha, I'm sorry," she says tiredly, pressing her fingers against her eyes. "I'm... a little on edge today. I apologise."

Sasha tilts her head at her curiously. "Maybe you should go home early?"

"No." Mikasa shakes her head and looks back at her assignment. "I'm fine." She stares at it for five minutes before she's distracted again, this time by Franz and Hannah who are sitting two benches ahead with their fingers delicately twined around each other's.

She huffs a little like a braying horse and picks at her pencil.

_Fucking finally indeed._

x

**Some Notes:**

**1) Shout out to bayalexison who probably doesn't even ship ereannie but is still putting up with me 3**

**2) I have finals in two weeks so this could go one of two ways:**  
**a - I don't update for two weeks or**  
**b - I update a lot over the next two weeks**  
**I just got back into writing, and it's a really really enjoyable way to procrastinate, so it's hopefully going to be b. Fair warning though.**


	3. III

**New Text Message**

From: Reiner

To: Annie

That Jaeger kid still following you around?

**New Text Message**

From: Bertholdt

To: Annie

Soooo what's up with you and Eren?

**Facebook**

**Mina Carolina Annie Leonhardt**

You and Eren had lunch together? What's going on there? ;)

x

Annie has never really dabbled in gossip, nor has she ever really been the centre of everyone's attention, but it's days like today that she remembers how fucking _quickly_ gossip gets around the school. Her phone buzzes with all three notifications while she's retrieving a couple of textbooks from her locker at the end of the day, and she stares at them for a whole second before she tosses it into the pile of books and bangs her forehead lightly on the cool metal of the locker.

It's fucking ridiculous, she thinks vehemently, because she could have sworn she spoke to Eren only once three hours ago, and maybe he did sort of follow her around in the two classes they had together since, but no part of that should be anyone else's business, and it frustrates her to no end that they do everything to butt in anyway. What are they? Thirteen?

She takes a breath. No, she thinks. She's not going to rise to this. She's never bothered with that kind of bull crap before and she's not about to indulge them today or ever. Maturity is hard to come by already, and she refuses to sink to their level, so she picks up the phone again, rereads the notifications (another breath) and turns it off without replying before she shoves it into her jacket pocket.

She slams the locker shut (one more breath), and nearly stumbles backwards when Mina's face appears where the door had once been.

"Soooo," the other girl begins with a cheeky grin. "Is it true?"

"Are you fucking serious?" It's not a question, and Annie can feel all the effort she put into keeping her cool ebbing away.

Mina gives her a look. "Come on, Annie," she says. "Everyone knows that you're really picky about who you hang out with – it's only fair for them to be curious when you start hanging out with people you don't usually talk to."

"We weren't _'hanging out'_," snaps Annie, slinging her bag over her shoulder and starting down the hall.

Mina follows, hands tucked into her pockets and nudging her elbows against her friend's. "He joined you guys for lunch."

Annie snorts. "He was uninvited," she says shortly.

"You let him follow you around in history _and _stats."

"What should I have done instead? Flipped him on his back in the middle of class?"

Mina sighs and prods her shoulder. "Just tell me what's going on, I promise I'll leave you alone afterwards."

"Really, Mina?" deadpans Annie. "Will you really? Because you and I know each other pretty well by now, and I am 100% certain that you won't."

Mina shrugs. "Yeeeah, well, I can _try_ to leave it alone afterwards, that's something right?" She chuckles. "Please, Annie? I'm your friend, and _someone's _gotta help you dispel the rumours. The less you say, the more people will talk."

"_Or,_" starts Annie, glaring at her friend, "everyone in this school can learn to mind their own fucking business. How hard is that?"

Mina huffs. "You're impossible."

She doesn't continue, and Annie thinks she might really let the subject drop. This is somewhat rare for Mina, because while she is one of three people at this school that Annie actually likes, it's in her nature to be sweet and outgoing and _very _talkative. It's generally regarded as surprising that they get along so well because Annie is literally her polar opposite.

They've just about made it outside of school grounds and are about to go their separate ways when someone calls out to her from behind.

Annie turns, and so does Mina, and it's something Annie regrets immediately because the speaker is Eren, and suddenly Mina is grinning again.

The words that come out of Eren's mouth don't help.

"We're still on for tonight, right?"

Annie doesn't look, but she knows Mina's grin is getting wider by the second, and Eren is standing there looking so hopeful because he'd spent literally three hours trying to get her to agree to this and it's far too late to back out now, even if it is just for Mina to leave her alone.

She clenches her jaw and nods.

"Awesome!" Eren says cheerfully, and he grins at her too and starts off in the other direction. "See you later!"

Mina waits til he's out of earshot before she nudges Annie's shoulder. "So... do I get an explanation now or what?"

Annie scowls at her friend. "No."

x

Hannes-Sensei runs three classes in the Trost City dojo: an advanced judo class on Tuesday afternoons and two junior classes on Saturday mornings. Annie is temporarily in charge of all three, but while she doesn't have to be there often at all, she keeps her gi in the lockers there during the week to save her from lugging it to school and home again, particularly because she lives on the other side of town.

Eren has gone home to retrieve his own gi, and had promised to meet her there no later than four o'clock this afternoon . As she has nothing better to do, she stops in at the cafe Reiner works at because it's on the way and she has half an hour to kill.

The little bell at the door dings lightly as she enters, and it's quiet enough (for now) that Reiner can afford to stand inattentively in a counter. He's doodling away on a napkin when Annie slings her bag onto the bench and takes a seat on one of the stools.

He glances at her and smirks. "You never answered my text," he says smugly.

Annie glares at him briefly and picks at the nearest menu. "It wasn't any of your business," she answers. "Are you gonna take my order or what?"

"Don't be _that_ kind of customer, Annie." He snorts, scrunching up the napkin and tossing it into the nearest bin. "Just a mocha, as usual?"

She shrugs. Annie's not really a fan of caffeine, but she needs the hit sometimes, and she finds the mochas here are a good in-between. Reiner's been working at this cafe for about a year now and she and Bert come to visit often enough that he's learned to make them just how she likes. She's never been one to make small talk either, so she appreciates that Reiner knows her well enough not to start conversations about stupid things. He's actually a grade above her, but they've been friends for a few years now, and she trusts him more than most, so, in the end, it doesn't surprise her when she sighs and says "It's not that big of a deal."

"Oh?" Reiner slides over a disposable cup, and she nods in thanks and hands over the appropriate amount of loose change.

Annie shrugs a second time. "He just wants to learn a couple of different techniques."

"And you agreed," Reiner says, walking around the counter to join her on one of the stools. "That's why everyone's so surprised, you know. The entire school knows how picky you can be."

She shoots him a glare. "He made it difficult not to," she grumbles, sipping at her coffee. "He frickin' followed me around in stats and history, and he wouldn't leave me alone until I said yes."

"Normally, you would have punched him or yelled at him or something," Reiner points out.

"In class?" she deadpans.

He takes his turn to shrug and reaches across the counter to straighten a pile of napkins. "So, what, are you going to tell people when they ask or are you going to let them come to their own conclusions?"

Annie can't help but snort into the cup. "Mina said the same thing." She glances at the clock on the far wall and hops off the stool. "Maybe," she answers at last, shifting her bag onto her shoulder again. "I should head off."

"You should probably," Reiner tells her, watching as she heads for the door. "Tell people, I mean. Don't let Bert think he's figured it out on his own because you know how he feels about you and the conclusion he'll come to won't be the right one."

She pauses in mid-step, hand stilling on the door handle. "He's better off with you, you know," she says quietly. "I know he swings your way too."

"He picked you," Reiner says with another shrug. "So, yeah. Let him know too, won't you?"

Annie sighs. "All right, I guess."

x

She heads straight for the instructors' locker room when she arrives, drops her bag into the nearest empty locker, and changes into her gi without very much fuss. Judo, she thinks, is a relatively safe martial art: it's all throws and grapples and choke holds – it's gentle in name and technique, and, personally, she thinks that it's far too soft for her. She much prefers Muay Thai – mostly because she's known it for longer and because it's a rougher sport in general. She doesn't like holding back, and Muay Thai is far more her style because of that.

Maybe that's why Eren is so eager to learn it. She knows of his history of getting into fights – perhaps Judo just isn't enough for him.

She drains the last of her coffee and tosses it into the bin in the hall before she heads into the spare practise room. It's a lot of a surprise when she finds that Eren's already there.

He grins at her. "Check it out, I'm early!" he says as if it's a rather big accomplishment.

"So you are," she says, a little taken aback. "That's unexpected."

Eren chuckles sheepishly and lifts a hand to rub at the back of his neck. "This is kind of exciting, okay," he tells her. "Your technique's really cool."

Annie raises an eyebrow at him but he's such an honest kid that she can't really tell him off for being so hyper about it. It's an interesting comparison to the Eren Jaeger she knows from school, who is arrogant and obtuse and full of bullshit excuses for stupid things. This Eren is eager and excitable and full of awe instead, and she doesn't really know which she prefers just yet.

She doesn't realize the amount of time she spends thinking about this until Eren coughs awkwardly.

"How do you want to start?" he asks.

"Well," she says, shaking herself from her thoughts. "Uh. I guess we can't really start until I know what you know. Let's see what you've got first." She shifts into an easy fighting stance and raises her fists so that they are level with her eyes. "Come at me."

Eren stares at her. "Wait, really? You want me to just go for it?"

Annie huffs impatiently. "Do I need to repeat myself, Jaeger?"

He hesitates. "Uh. Okay. Here I go."

He charges at her, but he gets maybe five steps forward before Annie swings out a leg and lands a hit on his shin. He yelps and scrambles a little, clawing at the air in a poor attempt to stay up, but he's down in literally a second, and Annie blinks at him looking moderately surprised.

"_Fuck, are you kidding – "_

Annie ignores the stream of curses. "That was fast," she notes.

"Shut up," grumbles Eren, stumbling to his feet. "I was holding back. Let me try again."

He does, and this time he tries to take a hold of the collar of her gi only she's too fast for him, and she ducks under his arm, wraps her fingers around the plain of his cheek and kicks his knees out from under him. He falls flat on his back before he's even realized it, and she peers over him, blonde hair straying over her eyes.

"How long have you been doing Judo?" she asks him.

He scowls up at her. "Since I was, like, ten," he manages, sitting up. "Fuck, that hurt. Who taught you this stuff?"

"My dad." Annie studies him thoughtfully. "The techniques you asked about are from a kick-boxing style from Thailand, and the reason you suck at it right now is because it's _very _different to what you've been taught."

"I couldn't tell," Eren snarks.

She silences him with a glare. "Do you still want to learn?"

Eren snorts. "Of course I still want to learn," he says, getting up again. "Geez, Annie, what do you take me for?"

She snorts too. "Basics first," she begins, assuming her stance again. "Fists up high - higher – there you go – and feet apart, one in front of the other." She examines Eren's form as she instructs and, dissatisfied, she ambles over to move his feet closer together. "You're too… I dunno, _rooted,_" she tells him. "This isn't Judo, remember – you have to be able to move quickly or you'll get punched in the face, so ease up a bit and put more of your weight on your toes."

Eren adjusts his stance and glances at her. "Is this better?"

Annie hums thoughtfully and examines his stance from every angle. Then, without warning, she kicks at the back of his knees.

"_Shit!_" Eren stumbles forward and reacts in time to keep himself from landing flat on his face. "What the fuck was that for?" he snarls, rounding on her.

She shrugs. "No, your stance was not better," she tells him with an amused smirk. "We've got a long way to go."

x

She puts him through his paces that afternoon, and when he leaves, he looks close to the walking dead. She waits until he's gone and she's alone in the instructors' locker room before she takes the phone out of the pocket of her uniform jacket and turns it back on.

x

**New Facebook Friend Request**

**Eren Jaeger **has added you as a friend.  
_Accept/Decline/Not now_

x

**Some notes: **

**Bayalexison still gets kudos because she's still putting up with me.**


	4. IV

**IV.**

**New Text Message**

From: Eren

To: Annie

Got your number off Mina. I can't feel my arms.

**New Text Message**

From: Annie

To: Eren

wtaf i thought you said you'd stop bothering me if i taught you some of my techniques

**New Text Message**

From: Eren

To: Annie

accept my friend request

x

"You know, I'm pretty sure there's scientific proof that training for more than three hours a day is bad for you."

Eren's lying on his back on the couch with his feet slung over the arm rest at the other end when he glances up and spots Mikasa sitting idly at the kitchen table. She has a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and her hair is mussed, so he suspects he might have been in bed until he let himself in.

"Oh," he greets, hitting the send button and locking the screen. "Hey. Sorry. I woke you, didn't I?"

"No," she answers. "I couldn't sleep."

"That's kinda weird," comments Eren. "You're usually out like a light by, like, nine. Is everything okay?"

Mikasa nods. "Kinda worried about you, though. Can you even move?"

"Pff. Yes." He snorts like it's a stupid question and makes an attempt at sitting up to face her properly. He fails. "...Okay, fine. No."

He doesn't need to need to see the face she's making to know she's giving him her patented I-disapprove glare. "This really isn't good for you, Eren. I mean, it was fine when you were doing it once a week, but training for like five hours – "

"Four," Eren corrects her. "We take breaks, and I promise it's not as bad as you think. Besides, Annie's done worse."

She silences him with another glare. "I think Annie's being too rough on you."

"It's only because I've just started learning her stuff. Give me a couple of weeks and I'll be adjusted to it fine."

"Eren..."

There's a sigh and Eren huffs into the upholstery. "What's the matter, Mikasa?" he asks, rolling over on the couch so that he can face her without having to sit up. "Is it really so bad that I want to learn something other than Judo or is it something else?"

Mikasa hesitates, and it's obvious to Eren that she's struggling a little bit to voice what's on her mind. "It's just – you know, she's not really our friend," she manages at last. "Annie, I mean. Just because she goes to our school, doesn't mean we really know her."

"You totally do know her, though," says Eren, frowning. "She's been at our school for as long as we have."

"Yeah, but we don't know _know _her," Mikasa replies with a small frown. "What makes you so sure that she's... well... _decent_?"

Eren raises an eyebrow at his foster sister. "What makes you so sure that she's not?"

Mikasa lets out a frustrated '_hmph_'. "We just don't know anything about her, okay? I just – "

She fishes awkwardly for words, but Eren has known her long enough to understand; Mikasa's had walls up since she came to live with him and his father, but it's never been a bad thing – more often than not, it's just because she's a tad overprotective. She's decidedly picky about her friends, that's all – she and Annie are a lot alike that way and he imagines that they'd probably get along quite well.

Eren hums thoughtfully, rolling off the couch and heading into the kitchen to put the kettle on. "I think you guys should get to know each other," he says, pulling a couple of mugs from the drawer.

Mikasa blinks at him. "I think not," she deadpans.

"You should," says Eren, shrugging. "She's a good teacher and not as mean as everyone thinks – and that's not just me. Armin's had to partner her in chem a couple of times and he says so too." He hands her a mug of tea and flops into the seat opposite her with his own.

"Armin thinks everyone's nice," she grumbles.

"It's not like he's wrong," points out Eren. He sighs into his mug. "Trust me on this one, okay?"

She makes a face at him, but he gives her a look over his mug. "_Mika," _he says seriously. It's a name no one is _ever _allowed to call her, and it's a reminder to her that he is not just anyone. Mikasa has never really told him much about how life was before Grisha Jaeger took her in, but he doesn't have to ask to know that she's so defensive because of the past. She let him in though – he's the only person she has ever allowed to use the name 'Mika' because he is the one person she's come to trust completely, and he knows that. _She _knows that he knows that, and Eren stares her down until she relents with a sigh.

"Yeah. Okay," she says at last. "But... be careful, okay? I don't know what she's teaching you but if you keep coming home like this, I'm allowed to worry."

Eren shoots her a reassuring grin. "Don't. I'll be okay. Aren't I always?"

"No." Mikasa scoffs into the mug. "Thanks for the tea."

x

**New Text Message**

From: Annie

To: Eren

No.

x

Eren doesn't receive the text until he's settled in home room the next morning and he scowls a little at the phone, tapping the text space to start on a reply when he hears a giggle next to his ear.

He frowns and glances to his right to find Mina leaning over his shoulder and reading over his messages. "What the fuck – _Mina!" _he yelps, locking the phone and pulling it away defensively. "Can you _not_?"

Mina chuckles and pulls up a chair. "So what, did you ask her out? Is that what happened?"

Eren gives her a look. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Oh, don't play dumb," she teases, grinning slyly at him. "You and Annie."

"What – I – _No!" _He looks at her like she's gone crazy but it doesn't stop his voice from cracking oddly at the "No". He coughs. "I didn't – _ahem_ – I just asked her to teach me a few moves," he says with as much dignity as he can.

"So what'd she reject you for?"

"She didn't reject me," Eren says, voice bordering a little on defensive. "It's not anything important and it's none of your business. Why are you even here? You're not in this home room class!"

Mina, apparently deaf to his protests, clucks her tongue and leans her elbows casually on his desk. "How do I put this?" she wonders aloud. "Annie is one of my best friends, and I really want her to be happy. Now, she won't ever admit it but she's secretly really pleased that someone else is taking an interest in her techniques – "

"How the _fuck _do you know that?"

She ignores him. " – so if anyone's going to work for her _romantically_ – "

"_Whoa, _whoa, whoa, what the hell?" Eren holds up his hands and leans away from Mina a little. "You – _what?_ No, it's not like that, okay? She won't even accept my friend request – where the hell are you getting these ideas?"

Mina stifles a giggle behind her hands and grins. "Eren. Chill. I'm just saying that if you do want to ask her out, I'm totally behind it."

Eren gapes at her. "I – _what?_"

She pats his shoulder supportively, winking as she gets up and practically skips towards the door. Eren is left at his desk slack-jawed and confused as to whether that _really_ just happened, and he's still like that when Marco takes his usual seat to his left.

"What happened to you?" the other boy asks.

Eren turns his head slowly to look at him. "I don't know?" he manages. "I think Mina just tried to convince me to ask Annie out?"

Marco raises an eyebrow at him. "Are you going to?"

"Don't be ridiculous," snaps Eren, reaching for his phone again. "She hasn't even accepted my friend request yet." He unlocks the screen and returns to Annie's last message and he doesn't need to look to know that Marco's watching him with a little concern. "What?"

"If you keep bugging her like that, she's less likely to do it, you know."

Eren bristles. Marco has a reputation of being everyone's (mostly Jean's) conscience because he seems to have what the average high school student lacks: common sense. He's right, of course. People who bother Annie generally end up in a lot of pain, but in Eren's mind, Annie has already put him through all of that—it's only fair that he gets to bother her a little.

She walks through the door at the exact moment Eren hits send. When he looks up at last, Annie's already glaring at him and a single word forms on her lips. "_No._"

x

"I don't get it." Eren falls into step with Marco as they make their way to first period. "Why doesn't she want to friend me?"

"Uh. There could be a number of reasons," he starts, and Eren feels like Marco knows all of them but he's still trying to be polite. "For one, you're really annoying her about it – you can't just _force _someone to accept your friend request. For another, it's not that big a deal – it's a _friend request._"

"Exactly!" huffs Eren. "I don't see why she's being so stubborn about it."

Marco scoffs and shakes his head. "That's a third," he mutters. "Look, Eren. Annie isn't really the type of person you can annoy into being friends, so if you really want her to accept your request, _leave her alone and let her do it in her own time._ Give the girl some space."

Eren gives him a petulant scowl. "What if she doesn't, though?"

"Then that's her call," says Marco wisely. He glances at his phone for the time and gives Eren an apologetic grin. "I have to get to gym. _Don't _bother her anymore than you already have. Mikasa will kill me if she beats you up more than she has to."

"Wait, what? What does Mikasa have to do with this?" Eren calls after him, but Marco's already jogging down the hall towards the gymnasium.

x

Marco is one of three people in his grade who regularly offers their advice: Armin is the second, and Bertholdt Fubar is the third. Eren generally doesn't listen to advice given to him–not even from Armin, who's been his best friend since middle school—but he thinks, maybe, Marco might be right this time. So, he spends the whole day _not _tailing Annie around and _not_ blowing up her phone with his pleas to accept his friend request, so he's genuinely surprised when it's she who approaches him after school.

"You left this at dojo yesterday." She fishes the belt he uses to tie his gi from her bag.

Eren blinks at her. "Oh. Thanks. Uh – sorry about the spam."

Annie raises an eyebrow at him. "Are you actually?"

"Well, yeah, I guess." He shuffles his feet awkwardly and pockets the belt. "Marco said that annoying you into it probably isn't the best idea."

"He might be onto something there," deadpans Annie.

Eren pouts. "Annie, come on. I'm trying to be mature."

She snorts. "Of course you are," she says, and Eren pouts a little harder when he realizes that she's making fun of him. He's about to protest when she says, "Come in after the junior classes on Saturday."

He blinks at her again, taking a second to process the offer before his face splits into a wide grin. "Really? Uh. Okay! Does that mean you'll— "

"_No." _She smirks. "You're gonna have to work a little harder than that, Jaeger." She waves a little to someone behind him, and Eren turns to see Reiner and Bertholdt heading in their direction. "You also need to learn how to speak to girls."

"I – _what_?" It's stupid, he knows, but he's actually kind of insulted at the accusation. "I'm talking to you aren't I?"

She stifles a second snort and turns to join the newcomers. "Eleven on Saturday. Don't be late."

Eren sputters, and it's not until she and the others have walked out of the main gate that he manages to regain control of his mouth.

"I can too speak to girls!"

x

**Facebook Messenger**

**Armin:  
**Do I even want to know why you were yelling at the main gate?  
**Eren:  
**No.  
_Seen15:34._

x

**Some notes:**

**1) Sorry it's late: Finals have started and passing is fun.**

**2) Shout out to Bay for the same reasons as usual.**

**3) I don't usually ask, but ****_please _****leave me feedback because I don't know if you guys like this and if it's worth continuing here unless I know you guys like it. Please please please? **


	5. V

**V.**

**Facebook Messenger**

**Mina:  
**Goddammit Annie, accept his friend request  
Hey  
Annie  
AnnieAnnieAnnie  
Are you ignoring my messages?  
I am so insulted!  
DON'T IGNORE ME  
I KNOW YOU'VE READ THESE MESSAGES, IT TELLS ME WHEN YOU SEE THEM  
_Sent 14.45_

x

Mina Carolina has a reputation of being one of the nicest girls in their grade (second only to Krista Lenz, which is saying a lot), but she is also notorious for being one of the nosiest and Annie stares at the screen of her phone and fights the urge to throw it across the cafe. Reiner will never forgive her if she gets him fired because she broke their coffee machine or something, so instead, she pockets it and glares holes into the table.

"You okay, Annie?"

She looks up in time to see Bertholdt taking a seat across from her with two paper cups. He looks a little concerned as he hands over her mocha and Annie sighs and offers him a nod of thanks.

"It's nothing," she grumbles.

Bertholdt raises an eyebrow at her. "Doesn't sound like nothing," he notes mildly.

"Well, it is," she snaps, a little harsher than she means to. "Sorry. I forget how nosy people can be, that's all."

"Ah," says Bertholdt. He turns his eyes to the coffee cup and says nothing else.

Annie brings her own to her lips and, even from here, she can feel Reiner's eyes boring into her back, wordlessly demanding that she explain the situation with Eren to Bert. He's got a point, she supposes. The three of them have been thick as thieves since Annie's second year at Septa Maria College. They are both like brothers to her, and it's not exactly fair for her to confide in Reiner but not in Bert.

"It's not what everyone thinks it is," she says at last.

Bert glances up at her, grey eyes momentarily meeting blue, before they turn back to his coffee. "What is it, then?" he asks quietly.

Annie fights the urge to cringe because she looks at his face now and realizes that Reiner is right: Bert has already come to his own conclusion regarding her relationship (or lack thereof) with Eren, and she may not feel the same way towards him, but he is still her friend and she dislikes the disappointment in his eyes _very _much. "He wanted to learn some of my techniques," she explains. "That's all."

He looks up again. "You're not...? He didn't-?"

"No," says Annie firmly, and she snorts into her coffee as she brings it to her lips again. "He's a talented kid, I'll give him that, but he's an idiot, and just – _no._"

Bertholdt hums thoughtfully, but he offers her a small smile. "Okay," he says. "But you know, it was kinda weird that you agreed to teach him."

"So I've been told," she mutters.

They lapse into a silence that's both comfortable and awkward; Bertholdt has grown accustomed to the fact that Annie's not very much of a conversationalist, even with her closest friends, but Annie can feel his question in the air; can see it in the way tugs nervously at the serviette that came with his coffee. She's not sure exactly when he'd started to look at her as more than a friend, but she can say that it's not the same for her. Bert just... isn't her type, she guesses, and the idea that things could change because she can't return his feelings irks (_scares_) her a lot.

Her fingers tense around her cup as she waits, but the question never comes.

"Why _did _you agree to teach him?" he asks instead.

She blinks. "He wouldn't leave me alone," she tells him. "You were there when he ambushed me at lunch – he followed me around afterwards as well."

Bert studies her carefully, eyes searching hers as if there's something else she's not saying. Annie heaves a frustrated sigh.

"Why is it such a big deal to everyone?" she snaps.

"Uh – " Bert holds up his hands. "It's not, it was just –"

Annie bristles. "Yeah? It's literally yesterday's it's not such a big deal, tell me this: w_hy do people keep asking_?" She glares at him, demanding an answer, but he relents and turns his eyes back to his coffee.

"I'm sorry," he murmurs. "On behalf of everyone who's been bugging you about it – me, Reiner, Mina – it's your business. We're your friends, and shouldn't be trying to pry details out of you if you don't want to give them."

She huffs. "It's fine," she grumbles, snatching her bag up from under the table and getting to her feet. "I should go. I have errands to run."

"Annie, wait – "

She's out the cafe door before Bert can finish the sentence.

x

It's a lie.

She doesn't have errands run. She doesn't actually have much to do today; her latest assignments are done, and her father will be home early enough to take care of dinner for once so she doesn't even have that to worry about. The truth is that she's just done with being asked about Eren over and over and over again; her life does not revolve around the fact that she agreed to teach him her techniques, and neither should all her conversations.

She's on the bus home now, and she's spent most of the journey staring out the window with her earphones plugged in and the volume on her iPod turned most of the way up. It's been a relatively long day, and the conversation with Bertholdt didn't help much. She's still trying to cool off when someone taps her on the shoulder.

"Annie?"

She tears her eyes from the window and tugs the left earphone from her ear. "Armin," she greets. Her eyes narrow. "If you ask me about Eren, I swear to God – "

The blonde boy blinks and holds up his hands. "No – no, I was just wondering if I could take a seat. The bus is pretty crowded today."

"Ah." Annie nods at him and turns back to the window. "Go ahead, I guess."

He does, offering her a grateful smile. "I don't see you on this bus often," he comments mildly.

"I don't usually head home 'til later," she deadpans.

"That would explain that."

The bus lurches into motion and they lapse into silence. Annie turns her eyes back to the window, plugging the left earphone back into her ear and she gets maybe halfway through a song when Armin taps at her shoulder again.

"_What?" _she demands, hitting the pause button and turning to look at him.

"Uh. First," he starts cautiously, "I promise I'm not _asking_ about Eren – I already know what's going on anyway, so please don't get anymore annoyed than you already are. I swear this –"

"Get to the point," she snaps, and Armin gulps.

He takes a breath. "Look. I've known Eren since, like, middle school, and you can tell how much he likes something by the amount he talks about it per day. You've come up_ pretty _oftenthis week, so yeah, it's obvious that he admires you a lot." Armin pauses, looking as if he's wondering how to continue. "Come and sit with us sometime. He won't stop bragging about you until you do."

There's an odd sensation in Annie's face; it's a sort of unwelcome warmth, and almost too late, she realises she's blushing at the idea that Eren _brags _about her. She turns away hoping Armin hasn't noticed. "I'll pass," she deadpans.

Armin shrugs. "You should consider it at least." He snorts a little. "You're nicer than you let on, and surely you won't let us suffer at his hands." He pushes the stop button and gets up. "This is my stop."

"Good," mutters Annie under her breath, but Armin chuckles.

"I'll be honest," he says. "We though it was pretty weird when he started following you around, but his judgement is generally pretty good, so if he says you're cool, I'm inclined to agree. Plus there was that time you basically saved my chem experiment, so I know first hand that you're actually a nice person." He grins as the bus comes to a stop. "See you on Monday, Annie."

Annie stares after him, wondering if everyone who hangs around Eren is a certain type of crazy.

x

**New Text Message**

From: Bertholdt

To: Annie

I'm really sorry about yesterday. Let me make it up to you. You free after judo?

**New Text Message**

From: Annie

To: Bertholdt

Not your fault. Was cranky to begin with. And no, sorry. I have prior commitments.

x

The kids in Hannes' junior classes are among the worst little brats Annie has ever met. There are about forty of them all together, each about seven or eight years old, and at least three-quarters of them are on perpetual sugar highs. Classes don't end soon enough for her, and the cherry on top of today's _spectacular_ class is when she overhears a little boy talking to his mother on their way out of the building.

"Mom, she's a girl, there's no way she's gonna be as good as Hannes-sensei."

_Are you fucking kidding me? You are too fucking young to be that sexist already._

She rounds on the little kid, fists clenching at her sides, but his mother ushers him away quickly, mouthing a quick apology at her.

Annie scowls, and she's about to turn around to head back inside when she spots Eren hurrying up the steps.

"Don't look so peeved, Annie, you know that's not true," he says with a cheeky grin.

She glares at him.

"What? It's a compliment."

Annie rolls her eyes and makes her way to the free training room at the end of the hall. "Hurry up and get dressed."

He chuckles and jogs to catch up with her. "Armin told me he saw you on the bus yesterday," he says.

"So he did," she says shortly. "What of it?"

Eren shrugs. "Nothing, he just said you guys chatted for a bit before he got off."

"And?"

Eren shrugs again. "That's it," he says as they come to a stop outside the spare training room. "He just kind of mentioned it in passing. Give me a minute, I'll just get dressed." He scurries off to the changing rooms, and Annie shakes her head and slides open the door.

Eren and his friends have always been rather open with each other about their mundane everyday activities, and sometimes Annie wonders if they have any sense of privacy at all. Evidently, they do, because as far as she can tell, Armin didn't mention the exact topic of their conversation, nor, thankfully, her reaction to parts of it (if he noticed at all). She's actually relatively impressed with this, and she mulls Armin's offer over in her mind.

Reiner and Bert and Mina are her best friends in the way that they have always respected her privacy and her need to be alone every now and then, but lately, their nosiness has been a little taxing. Perhaps she just needs a break from them and perhaps Armin's offer isn't as bad as it sounds. Maybe she should –

"Okay! Let's get started!"

Annie shakes herself from her thoughts as Eren lets himself into the practise room with a grin. The thought is left unfinished in her head.

x

The have a break after a couple of hours, and Eren excuses himself and returns a couple of minutes later with a Tupperware container filled with what looks like the contents of half a packet of cookies. "Don't tell Mikasa," he says, removing the lid and offering it to her. "I have to buy more on the way home anyway, so hopefully she won't notice I stole what was left in the jar."

Annie raises a brow at him.

He makes a face. "Come on, Annie, I risked a lot so we'd have something to snack on, don't let that be for nothing."

"I can't take your sister's cookies," she says pointedly, and Eren chuckles.

"They're technically mine – I bought them," he says, shaking the container insistently. "Have one."

Annie sighs. She takes the topmost cookie from the container and moves to the corner of the room to sit against the wall. "You're ridiculous," she says, nibbling at it as Eren follows and drops into the spot next to her. "Armin said you've been bragging."

"About what?"

Annie pauses. "Me," she says quietly, making a point of not looking him in the eye.

Eren's chuckle is muffled by the cookie in his mouth. "Well, yeah," he says, swallowing hugely. "Jean's, like, three hundred percent done with listening to me talk about the stuff you teach me but hey, it's his loss. It's a really cool technique and you're kind of awesome at it – what's not to brag about?"

"Hm." It takes a lot of self control to keep the blush from rising to her cheeks, but she will admit to herself that it's actually kind of nice that Eren has so much respect and appreciation for the things she knows. "Sucking up won't get you out of any drills, you know that, right?"

He laughs. "Yeah. I know. So, hey, are you going to accept my friend request yet?"

Annie scoffs and she's about to say no, but she takes one look at him with his stupid grin and his wide green eyes, and finds that her resolve just can't handle is idiocy. She sighs. "I'm going to get so much shit for this," she grumbles, getting up and heading for the changing rooms.

She can hear his shout of triumph even from down the hall.

x

**Annie Leonhardt **accepted your friend request. **  
Write on Annie's timeline.  
**_Just now_

x

**Some notes:**

**1) It is Supanova day tomorrow, which is basically Australian Comic Con with less guests, and I promised tumblr user lankyvibe that I'd get this up in the "next couple of days" which means I won't have time to do it tomorrow if Bay beta's this tonight. So Bay, if you're reading this, I didn't forget. Also, I'm wondering how obvious the ereannie can get without you hating me for making you beta a fic about a ship you don't ship.**

**2) Thank you to everyone who left their feedback - I just wanted to make sure that people were actually reading and enjoying this. Please do keep leaving feedback if you can; it's really hard to tell that you like this if you guys don't let me know.**

**3) Shout outs to Blazing Haired Flaming Eyed, tvip11, TheSirenLilith, Hunter113, lotbe and loganhunter2.**


	6. VI

**VI.**

**Facebook Messenger**

**Eren:  
**Oi, come over, we haven't had a decent game day in two weeks  
**Armin: **  
What, now? It's 7 AM  
**Eren:  
**Idk, turn up whenever  
**Armin:  
**...  
Give me a couple of hours  
_Seen 07.30_

x

"So she finally accepted your friend request, huh?"

Armin throws his best friend a side long glance. It's Sunday morning, and he's chilling out at Eren and Mikasa's place because it's been a while since they've all been free and a game of Call of Duty is long overdue. Mikasa is sitting in the arm chair in the corner of the living room with her laptop balanced carefully on the arm rest, and she glances up at them briefly before she turns her eyes back to the screen.

Eren nods, tongue between his teeth as his character ducks behind a broken-down car to avoid being shot. "Yep," he says, peering over the hood. "She taught me this awesome throw yesterday – maybe I should show -"

"You're not throwing anyone, Eren," interrupts Mikasa sternly. "Dad already spoke to you about that, remember?"

"I wasn't actually going to." Eren tears his eyes away from the TV to pout at her. "I was gonna suggest coming to the dojo sometime to watch. Not right away, obviously – I need to learn enough to stand a chance first."

"I'll pass," deadpans Mikasa.

Eren huffs and turns his attention back to the game only to find his character lying in a pool of blood behind the broken down car. "What the _shit?!" _He rounds on Armin.

He shrugs. "Whoops."

"That wasn't fair!"

Armin gives his friend a look. "Yeah, it was – we're in a _war zone_, and if you're not gonna pay attention, be prepared to get hit."

Eren scowls at his friend and taps aggressively at the pause button. "Shut up," he snaps before he turns back to Mikasa. "I really think you and Annie should get to know each other."

"Eren's right," Armin says, setting the controller down and moving onto the couch. "She's a little stand-offish, but I think she just needs to get used to having new people around. I really think you guys would get along."

Mikasa scrunches her nose, looking reluctant. Armin can sort of understand; after she started living with Eren, it took her the better part of a year to even start liking him. He likes to think he's a relatively likable guy, but he'll admit that he was a little intimidated and mildly insulted that she disliked him so much at first. The three of them are best friends now, and he imagines Mikasa might appreciate having a female friend who isn't as talkative as Sasha.

"Seriously," Eren says, leaning back on his arms. "At least come with me some time."

"I'll think about it," says Mikasa, turning back to her laptop.

Eren shrugs and glances at Armin. "Do you think she'd come sit with us at lunch if I asked her?"

"I already did," Armin tells him.

"Wait, what?"

Armin offers him a cross between a smirk and a knowing sort of smile. He doesn't really know who Eren thinks he's kidding, but barring Mikasa, there's no one who knows him better. He's relatively sure Mikasa has an idea of what's going on in Eren's head but she's too busy being wary of Annie to realize it. Armin, though, he knows _exactly _what's going on.

He nods. "Yeah, when I saw her on the bus the other day." He shrugs. "She said no, but I wouldn't call that a solid answer just yet. Give her some time to really consider it."

Eren sits up a little straighter, eyes wide and hopeful. "You really think she will?"

"Yep," says Armin firmly, reaching for the controller again. "Trust me. She will."

x

Armin has never been one to gossip or eavesdrop on other people, but the reason he's so perceptive and so aware of who likes who and what's going on where is because he's _really_ good at getting a read on people. Eren, he supposes, doesn't count: Eren is rash and ridiculous and an open book to anyone who has known him longer than six months and, well, Armin has known him for far longer than that. This is why he's so confident in saying this: Eren Jaeger is in the process of developing a crush on Annie Leonhardt.

Eren. _Crushing _on _Annie. _

It seemed so bizarre at first, but given the number of times he brought her up in one week, let alone one day, how could it be anything else? It makes sense the more he thinks about it. Of course it would be Annie – she is the only one barring Mikasa who can beat him to a pulp on a regular basis and Eren has never been good at holding back. Armin supposes that that's the deal breaker. Annie will let him give it his all – in fact, from what he's heard, she is willing push him to his limits and beyond if he is willing to let her. And he does. Of course he does. He wants to learn more than anything else; he _wants_ to be _challenged_, and Annie is not afraid to give him that.

He'd sort of hedged at the subject when he caught Annie on the way home the other day, mostly because he was curious if she knew. Evidently, no, and Armin thinks he got far more than he bargained for when he caught the dusting of red on her cheeks.

Well.

He can't say he saw that one coming.

x

On Monday afternoon, Armin helps himself to the cafeteria food, as always, and he's just about to make his way to their usual table when he spots Annie a little way down the line. He pauses and ushers Connie and Sasha ahead of him by pretending he's deciding what to drink.

When Annie gets to him, she's already glaring. "Are you going to pick a drink or what?"

"Annie!" he says, as if he's just spotted her. "Fancy seeing you here! What a coincidence!"

She gives him a look. "What do you want?" she deadpans. Her gaze is icy, and Armin remembers too late that she doesn't tolerate bullshit.

He forces himself to stand his ground. "Uh – sorry – um. Did you think about maybe coming to si—"

"No," she says coldly, picking at a bottle of orange juice. "I'd prefer to sit alone."

Armin pauses because he catches the slight scowl on her features and the extra bite in her tone before she can hide it. "Is... everything okay?" he asks hesitantly.

"It's none of your business," she snaps, and Armin shrinks back a little but notes to himself that the answer isn't some variant of 'yes'.

"You don't have to say if you don't want to," he says hastily. "Sorry. I didn't mean to sound like I was prying. Just – you know, if you feel like some company, you're welcome to join us."

"_What did I just say_?"

Armin does his best not to flinch, and he's reminded how really fucking _terrifying_ Annie can be when she wants to be. He mutters an awkward sort of apology and sort of scurries off, watching out of the corner of his eye as she stalks out of the main cafeteria and towards an empty bench in the courtyard.

He sighs, making his way across the hall to their usual table. Mikasa has a meeting with the track team and may not be back in time for lunch at all today, so it's just Eren for now. He's hunched over with his phone when Armin arrives, only looking up as his friend takes a seat.

Eren raises an eyebrow at him. "What happened to you?"

Armin cringes and pokes at his pasta. "I forgot how scary Annie can be," he says weakly, but he swallows and glances at Eren. "I think something upset her, though. She's crankier than normal."

Eren blinks. "How do you know?"

"I just spoke to her," he explains. "I kinda just asked if she'd reconsidered coming to sit with us. She said no, but she's out in the courtyard instead of with Reiner and Bertholdt or Mina, which is a little weird."

"Not really," points out Eren. "She likes her time alone, remember?"

Armin shakes his head. "She didn't even acknowledge them. They're like her best friends."

Eren hums thoughtfully. "Do you think she'd kill me if I tried to talk to her?"

"I dunno." Armin shrugs. "You know her better than I do. She might not?"

Eren considers it, and Armin watches as his friend assesses the risks and outcomes in his head. He can practically see the gears turning in his temples as he waits for his decision, which is a little weird, to be honest; Eren doesn't usually spend this much time considering his choices, but Armin quietly notes the way his fingers tap nervously on the surface of the table and the way he keeps peering at the lock screen of his phone.

At last, Eren clears his throat and sits up a little straighter. "Is it cool if I ditch you for, like, ten minutes?"

"Go ahead," says Armin. "Try not to get beat up, okay?"

"I don't think she'll beat me up." Eren looks mildly offended. "We're friends now."

Armin scoffs. "I don't think that'll stop her from beating you up."

x

He's gone an entire five minutes before Jean turns up. "Where is everyone?" he asks, slipping into the seat across from Armin.

"Mikasa's at a meeting," Armin explains, swallowing a forkful of pasta. "Marco's usually with you, so I dunno where he is, but Eren's in the courtyard talking to Annie."

Jean snorts into his soda and rolls his eyes. "God, he's like obsessed," he groans. "All week long, it's been '_Annie this' _and '_Annie that_' and '_Annie's so cool even though she kicks my ass three times a week_'." He snorts. "If I didn't know better, I'd say Eren had a _massive _crush on that girl."

Armin blinks at him, and he turns back to his pasta without saying a word.

"_No._" Jean's jaw drops, and he slams his hands against the table as if this is the biggest breakthrough since Einstein theorized relativity. "You're _kidding _me!"

"I didn't say anything," says Armin, pointedly refusing to look Jean in the eye. He is good at reading people, yes, and sometimes, he's even pretty good at semi-manipulating them too, but lying through his teeth is not one of his strong points.

"Who else knows?" demands Jean. "Oh my God, this is fucking _huge._"

Armin frowns at him. "Jean, I swear, if you spread this around, I will make it my personal goal to make sure Mikasa never agrees to go out with you," he threatens. "This is Eren's business. He doesn't even realize he's got a crush on her yet. If you ruin this –"

"Dude, chill." Jean huffs. "I won't tell anyone, but you gotta admit, this is a big deal."

"It will be for Eren when he figures it out," he snaps.

"Does she like him back?"

"You're worse than half the girls in our grade," Armin groans. "It's none of your business."

"Our little Eren's growing up!" Jean places a hand over his heart and sobs mock-proudly.

"Well, I guess that means you'll never get a date with Mikasa!" says Armin loudly. People from the surrounding tables are starting to stare at them now, and he throws the taller boy a nasty glare. "_Don't_ screw this up for them," he hisses. "I mean it, Jean."

Jean scoffs. "Come on, Armin, I'm not that much of a dick."

"Really?" he deadpans. "I feel like there's a good reason I don't believe you."

"No, seriously," says Jean. He drops the act and offers him a reassuring grin. "I'm happy for him. Sort of. Don't tell anyone I said that. My point is good for him. Just as long as he doesn't drag her over here everyday because, _God, _she scares me."

Their phones buzz at the exact moment Jean finishes his sentence, and Armin watches as he reads over the notification.

"Oh," he says. "Well then."

x

**New Text Message**

From: Eren

To: Armin, Mikasa, Jean, Marco

Hey, I convinced Annie to come and sit with us tomorrow, that's okay right?

x

**Some notes:**

**1) Shout out to Bay, and to everyone who left their feedback.**

**2) I don't know if I'm entirely happy with this chapter, but I think it's just because it's the first time I've written something in Armin's point of view. Here's hoping he's still in character.**

**3) They're playing the multiplayer on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.**


	7. VII

**VII**

**New Text Message**

From: Mikasa

To: Eren

You have a WHAT?

**New Text Message**

From: Eren

To: Mikasa

I legit have no idea what you're talking about rn

x

When Eren had come to sit with her at lunch today, he'd had a stupidly stubborn determination in his eyes, and the second he dropped his bag by the seat, Annie knew what this was going to be about. She'd literally just spent most of her Sunday fending off Mina, Reiner and Bertholdt, and she was not about to give them any more ammunition related to the whole Eren thing. So, she'd steeled herself and had been so ready to reject every offer or deal Eren would make her, until he sat down and greeted her with his most ridiculous grin.

She'd tried. Oh, how she'd tried to just say '_no'_, but somehow, in the short time she'd been teaching him Muay Thai, he had learned how to manipulate her with nothing more than eager grins and bright green eyes.

God. Damn it.

She's sitting with him now in study hall, peering over his shoulder as he messages his sister under the desk while Miss Ral is distracted on the other side of the room.

Eren glances at her curiously when she huffs. "Mikasa's a little weird sometimes," he explains quietly. "But you guys might be really good friends if you got to know each other."

Annie purses her lips. Eren doesn't know because he's never been in the same P.E. class, but she and Mikasa have always had a sort of silent rivalry; one in which they are mostly equally matched, but they try more than they should to outperform the other just because they can. It's not exactly the healthiest base to build a friendship on, and to be honest, Annie's not sure she's really comfortable with extending her circle of likable people to a person she mildly dislikes.

Besides, she's ninety percent sure Mikasa already resents her for a) spending so much time with her brother, which in turn has lead to b) the fact that she has been her brother's most-brought-up topic for a week.

"I wouldn't be too invested in that idea," she says after a moment, and Eren tilts his head at her with a slight frown wrinkling his brow.

"Why not?"

Annie shrugs. "We're not very fond of each other," she says shortly.

"Well, yeah," says Eren, blinking. "That's why you get to know each other."

"It's a bad idea, Eren," she snaps. There's a "_shush!"_ from the other side of the room, and Annie glances up in time to catch Miss Ral watching them disapprovingly. She makes a face and mouths a sorry before she turns to glare at the idiot in the seat next to her. "Why did I even agree to sit with you tomorrow? It's the worst frickin' –"

"Annie, come on." He offers her a reassuring grin. "It'll be fine. You trust me, right?"

She scoffs. "No."

Eren gives her a look. "Please?

She glances at him, and too late, she realizes that he's doing the thing again – the thing where he looks at her, eyes wide and hopeful and impossibly green. She kind of wants to punch him in the face for it because she _should_ be able to refuse him but she _can't, _and, just – "_Fine_," she grumbles through clenched teeth. She doesn't look at him because she knows he's grinning, and if he's got that look on his face again, she might just flip him over the table.

x

She spends the rest of the day pointedly avoiding Mina, Reiner and Bertholdt because she's so _done_ with their shit and she doesn't want to deal with any more pointless interrogations. Yes, she'd spent Saturday afternoon at the dojo with Eren, and yes, she refused Bertholdt's offer to hang out because of that: _so what?_ It was an appointment she'd made prior to his offer, and it pisses her off _so much _that they just refuse to leave it alone.

Well fine, she'd thought. If they want to be ridiculous, she won't stop them, but she won't indulge them either. She's already explained herself to them once and that should be enough, but hey, if they want to keep harassing her about it, then the fastest way to deal with it until they grow up is to ditch them all together.

She convinces herself that this is part of the reason she agreed to Eren's request: his friends already know what's going on, and, as far as she's aware, Jean and Marco and Armin are still too afraid of her to even go there. She and Mikasa may dislike each other, but the other girl is quiet and reserved and probably doesn't care enough to bother so at least Annie will have some semblance of peace.

The rest of the day is pretty uneventful (ignoring the fact that her phone has been buzzing with Mina's spam for most of it), and it's more of the same the next morning, and by the time lunch rolls around, she heads for the cafeteria hoping (foolishly) that maybe Eren has forgotten about it. She's on her way out of the room when his voice calls out to her from behind.

"Annie!"

She sighs. He'd been so eager – of course he wasn't going to forget. He jogs towards her, his eyes as wide and excitable as ever.

"Hello, Eren," she deadpans.

"You said you'd sit with us today, remember?" He grins and jerks his head in the direction of his usual table. "Come on."

"I changed my mind," she says quickly. "I think I'll eat outside today."

Eren frowns at her. "You promised."

"I didn't," she protests, and it's true, because she distinctly remembers all their conversations and the words 'I promise' have never been uttered by her.

He makes a face. "You can't cop out on me now. You said you would."

_Just say no, _she tells herself._ It's easy, just reject his stupid offer and be done with it._

"Just this once, got it?" she blurts, and inwardly, she curses herself for being so weak-willed. Damn her. Damn her mouth.

Then his grin returns, and he beckons for her to follow, and she changes her mind.

Actually, no.

Damn _him._

x

She joins them at their table where she's greeted with weak smiles and silence (mostly silence), until Eren settles in the seat next to her. He sandwiches her between himself and Armin, takes one look around the table, and then starts talking like there's nothing wrong.

Armin offers her a sort of reassuring grin and starts talking too. They're discussing having a games day of some sort – probably on some video game that's come out recently. Jean and Marco sit across from her, and after a second, they join the conversation too. That leaves Mikasa who is sitting on the edge of the seat on the other side of the table, steely eyes locked on Annie.

Annie glares back. It's a cold sort of staring contest, but no one else seems to notice the tension rising between them. She doesn't break it until Eren prods lightly at her shoulder and she turns her glare to him instead.

"What do you think, do you wanna come?"

Annie frowns. "To what?"

"Games day," Eren explains. "Next Sunday at my place."

"I'll pass."

"You should think about it," Eren says. He seems oblivious to Mikasa, whose glare becomes even colder. "It'll be fun."

"That's what you always say," deadpans Annie.

Eren shrugs. "It's true most of the time – you just have to give it some time. Anyway, are you heading to the dojo straight after school today?"

She nods shortly and turns back to her pasta.

"Can I walk with you?"

"You're pretty adamant at invading my personal space, aren't you?" Annie gives him a look.

Eren blinks at her. "Is that a no?"

There's a sigh from the other side of the table and they turn in time to see Mikasa shove her tray away and get up. "_Eren_," she says sternly. She jerks her head towards the corridor and stalks off without another word.

Eren seems to understand. "One second," he says, and he gets up too to scurry after his sister.

"Don't mind her."

Annie glances at Armin, who shrugs and swallows a mouthful of salad.

"She just takes a little while to get used to new people," he tells her. "She's actually really nice, and if you stick around, you might find you guys like each other."

"I somehow doubt that." Annie scoffs and rolls her eyes. "Can I go now?"

"Uh." Armin hesitates. "You can, if you really want to," he says, "but Eren might be a little disappointed. Besides, we like having you here, right guys?" He eyes Jean and Marco, and they sort of grin awkwardly at her before they answer.

"Sure!"

"Yeah, you seem pretty cool."

They're lying, obviously; Armin seems genuine enough, if not a little nervous, but Annie doesn't need to be a genius to see right through Jean and Marco. "Whatever," she grumbles, and she picks up her tray and opens her mouth to excuse herself when Eren returns.

"I dunno what's up with her but – hey, where're you going?"

"Outside." Annie clucks her tongue irritably. "I'll see you later."

"It's not because of Mikasa, is it?" he calls after her.

Annie doesn't answer.

x

It's only sort of because of Mikasa – they've always been rivals so Annie hadn't really expect anything less. Honestly, she kind of relates to the other girl in that a lot of the reason she just left was because it takes her a while to get used to people too. A lot of people seem to mistake that for being bitch, which, okay, fine, is reasonable because she _is_ a bitch sometimes, but she is by no means unreasonable.

Armin, she supposes, is okay because they have classes together and she's had to be his lab partner more than a couple of times already. He's a smart kid, and she respects him for that.

She doesn't know a lot about Jean and Marco, and, quite frankly, she's okay with that because Jean seems like a dick who's only not because Marco is around to stop him.

Eren is an idiot, but she tolerates him now because she's grown so used to him. He tries hard, and he's eager to learn, and he appreciates her skills more than most people, so what can she say? She's warmed up to him a lot. What bothers her now is the fact that she can't seem to control her mouth around him anymore. It pisses her off a lot, actually, because it's not just her mouth – her face becomes flushed and feverish at his compliments and her heart thumps faster in her chest than it should. She genuinely doesn't know what's going on; only that her control of herself is slipping because Eren Jaeger is a manipulative little bastard who's figured out how she ticks and probably doesn't even know it.

What a _dick_.

He chases her up after school while she's grabbing some things from her locker.

"What's going on?" he asks, frowning. "Is everything okay?"

Annie glares at him from the corner "Peachy," she grumbles. "If you ask me to join you tomorrow, I swear –"

Eren holds up his hands. "You don't have to if you don't want to," he says quickly. "I just thought you might enjoy some different company, but I should have known better than to force you into sitting with us when you weren't ready for it."

Annie pauses and studies him carefully. "You spoke to Armin," she says.

"Too mature to come from me directly, huh?" Eren rubs at the back of his head and gives her an awkward chuckle. "We've got a little time before Judo starts – can I make it up to you by getting you some coffee or something? There's this place on the way –"

Annie cuts him off quickly. "No. It's fine. We should head off."

Eren raises an eyebrow at her. "Oh, we _are_ walking together, are we?"

"Well, there's no real point in ditching you now," she sasses, shutting the locker.

He grins. "Will you consider coming on Sunday?"

There's a pause, and Annie hides an exasperated smirk. "Don't push it."

x

**Some notes:**

**1) Shout out to Bay, who is, apparently, still not sick of me, and also to everyone who left their feedback, particularly Ao3 user Sarah2207 and FFn user lotbe - everyone's been really encouraging about this so far but your guys comments made my day.**

**2) I'm on holiday now, so hopefully I should be more consistent with updates.**


	8. VIII

**VIII**

**New Text Message **

From: Mikasa

To: Eren

Can we please talk about the whole Annie thing properly? You've been avoiding it since yesterday afternoon.

x

The time stamp on the notification says that he received the message three hours ago, but it's not until Eren's on his way home that he actually reads it. He scowls as he pockets the phone, aiming a frustrated kick at a pebble on the sidewalk because he could have sworn they'd already discussed this and that Mikasa had agreed to trust him on this one and just –

He huffs. It's Mikasa, he reminds himself. She's just overprotective, that's all, and if she's still up, then fine, they'll talk. He just has to be patient with her because he really wants this to work: he wants Annie to sort of semi-join them and he wants Mikasa to realize that she doesn't have to have walls up for everyone.

He heaves a tired sigh. He's home a little later than he would be normally today because he'd waited with Annie at the bus stop nearest the dojo to make sure she'd be okay on the way home. She'd actually scolded him a little for it, and he supposes she's right. Annie is more than capable of kicking anyone's ass no matter how much bigger they are than her, but he did it anyway because he enjoys her company more than he cares to admit. He gets home at around nine o'clock and finds Mikasa sitting quietly on the couch with her jar of cookies on one side and a pile of her notes from school on the other.

"Hey," she greets. "Can we talk?"

Eren flops onto the other couch, and he swears to himself in his mind that he's going to be mature about this because Mikasa deserves more than his impatience, but the first words that force themselves out his mouth are: "What's there to talk about?"

She frowns at him. "Eren. I'm just... concerned."

"Are you sure you're concerned for me?" he blurts, and he winces because it comes out much harsher than he intends it.

Mikasa pauses, looking insulted. "Why are you mad?"

"I'm not mad," says Eren, and he takes a breath to make sure he stays that way. "I'm just frustrated. We've discussed this already and you agreed to trust me on this one."

"It's not you that I don't trust," says Mikasa quietly. "You know I trust you, and your judgement, but..."

"But what?" He turns his head to frown at her. "Is your rivalry with Annie really that important?"

There's another pause, and Mikasa stares down at her feet, cheeks red with shame. "Sorry," she mumbles. "It's just... hard."

Eren studies her carefully, watching as her fingers clench into fists because she's embarrassed of her behaviour. He relents. "I didn't mean to snap at you," he says quietly. "But I really, _really _think you guys could get along great. Please at least try to get to know each other?"

"She, like, hates me, though," says Mikasa childishly.

"No, she doesn't," snorts Eren. "You have to be a real asshole for her to dislike you. She's just quiet and prefers to keep to herself. Like you."

"Hm." She glances at him and offers an apologetic smile. "Sorry," she says again. "You really do like her, don't you?"

Eren blinks. "What are you talking about?"

Mikasa blinks too. "Annie," she says.

Eren raises an eyebrow at her. "What about her?"

"You –" Mikasa pauses abruptly. "But Jean said – "She gapes at him like she's just realized something hugely important and then snaps her mouth shut and looks away. "I'm sorry," she says, piling her things together and getting up. "I shouldn't be – your – sorry."

"What the fuck are you on about?" Eren props himself up on his elbows and watches her awkwardly gather her things. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," she says quickly. She pauses on her way out of the room. "I really am sorry for the way I've been acting. I shouldn't... interfere. G'night, Eren."

x

**Facebook Messenger**

**Eren:  
**What did you tell Mikasa that's making her act weird?  
**Jean:  
**...what are you talking about?  
**Eren:  
**We were talking about her rivalry with Annie and she said that you said something before she stopped talking and walked away.  
What did you tell her  
**Jean;  
**Uh  
Sorry dude, I'm kinda busy right now, ttyl

x

Mikasa makes a point of dodging his questions the next morning, which is weird, and it just gets weirder when they get to school and Jean and Marco do the same. He spends most of the day trying to get answers out of _someone_ but either they all know something he doesn't or they're plotting against him.

(He's relatively sure it's the former because Mikasa is on in it and Mikasa would _never_).

He complains to Armin about it as they line up for lunch. "I just don't see why they can't tell me what the hell's going on."

Armin huffs impatiently. "You know, if you show them you care, they're not going to tell you."

"I _do_ care, though," whines Eren, ignoring the face Armin makes at him as he grabs two trays from the stack at the end of the counter. "It's not fair for them to keep something like that secret – we're supposed to be friends, and besides -"

"Oh, look, it's Annie," interrupts Armin loudly. He jabs a finger at her as she leaves the line and heads for the same bench she'd been sitting at two days before.

Eren cuts himself off immediately in favour of watching her, and out of the corner of his eye, he catches Armin rolling his eyes. "What?"

He shrugs, hiding an amused smirk. "Are you going to sit with her today?"

Eren considers it. On the one hand, he could spend lunch trying to weedle information out of Jean, Marco and Mikasa. On the other, he could talk to Annie. He feels like one of these tasks is considerably more difficult than the other, and to be honest, if the guys and Mikasa are going to be such a pain about whatever it is they're keeping secret, then, yeah, he'd prefer to sit with Annie.

"Yeah," he answers, turning back to his friend. He pauses. "What are they not telling me, Armin?"

Armin tries not to laugh. "You have to figure that out on your own, Eren. I'll see you later."

x

"Made it home last night, I see." He grins at Annie as he comes to join her on her bench. "Is it cool if I join you again?"

Annie rolls her eyes at him and smirks a little. "As if you'd take no for an answer," she says, and she shuffles over and makes a spot for him on the bench.

Eren smiles gratefully, and he drops his bag at his feet and sits down. "Is it okay if I bring Mikasa to the dojo to watch some time?"

She shrugs. "If you want. Don't let me stop you."

"Okay." Eren pauses. "How come you haven't been sitting with Bert and Reiner lately?"

"They're nosy bastards," she says shortly.

He takes his turn to shrug. "I dunno, yours is pretty pointy, too."

There's a pause, and he doesn't realize what he's said until after he's said it. His eyes grow wide and he snaps his mouth shut and, instinctively, he braces himself, shielding his face with his arms from the hit he knows is coming. "I didn't mean that!" he says quickly. "It was a joke, please don't punch me!"

It doesn't come, and he peers at her over his elbows at her to find her giggling quietly to herself over her lunch. He stares. He's seen smirks and amused smiles from her before, usually because she's a little bit of a sadist, but the sight before him now is so surreal that he lets his guard down. He realizes that he was too late, and she jabs him in the forehead so hard that he almost loses his balance on the bench.

He yelps. "What the hell?!"

"You're lucky I tolerate you," she says, still kind of smiling, and Eren has a terrible time trying to take his eyes off her lips. "But you really do need to learn how to talk to girls."

"I can talk to girls," he says dumbly.

She scoffs. "Sure, you can."

x

He brings Mikasa to their lesson on Saturday morning, after Annie finishes up with Hannes' junior classes. She looks ready to punch something when they arrive, and Eren offers a sheepish grin when they meet her at the top of the steps.

"Bad lesson, huh?"

She scowls. "I don't like kids." She nods at Mikasa.

Mikasa nods back, and Eren grins dumbly at them both before he heads into the building.

He gets dressed quickly because, to be honest, Mikasa may have promised to try to get to know Annie, but he doesn't know if it's the best idea to leave them in the same room together with nothing to break the tension. When he gets back to the practise room, they're sort of staring each other down, and he coughs awkwardly.

"Uh. Should we get started?"

Annie is the first to break their staring contest in favour of looking at him. "Yeah. Let's see what you remember from Thursday."

It carries on like a regular lesson from there. Annie teaches him a couple of new moves and how to put them into practise in the middle of a fight, and then they spar for a bit, and honestly, Eren's quite relieved because things are going pretty well. Mikasa sits in the corner of the practise room looking mildly interested as they spar. It's such a normal first one and a half hours that he almost forgets his sister is even there, and Annie ends the first half of their lesson after he loses his fifth straight spar.

"God, I'm never going to win, am I?" he groans.

Annie smirks as she stands over him. "No."

"Geez." He sits up. "I get enough of this from Mikasa, why do I keep doing this?"

"Oh?" Annie tilts her head at him curiously and glances at Mikasa. "You beat him up too?"

Despite herself, Mikasa smirks. "Not to this extent. My dad would kill me."

Annie shrugs because she supposes it's a valid point. "What do you do?"

"I did a lot of kendo when I was younger," says Mikasa. "Not so much anymore."

"Hm." Annie pauses for a second, and Eren watches her mull something over in her mind. At last, she offers him a hand and she pulls him to his feet. "Take a break," she says. "I'll be back in a second."

Eren blinks at her, but she excuses himself before he can argue. He sighs, and moves to join Mikasa in the corner. "See? She's not so bad."

His sister shrugs and draws her knees to her chest. "I guess," she says hesitantly. "You okay?"

"A little sore, but that's nothing new." He nudges her with his elbow and grins. "It's a cool technique, though, huh?"

"Yeah. I'll give her that." They lapse into silence, and Mikasa pulls a water bottle out of her bag and hands it to him. "Sorry. She seems nice enough, and I never should have been so snippy."

The door to the practise room slides open, and Annie returns with what looks like a couple of shinai (or stick swords as Eren had called them when he was younger) and a spare gi, and suddenly Eren knows where this is going. "Oh my God."

Annie ignores him and offers the gi and one of the shinai to Mikasa. "It's hardly proper gear, but we can make do."

"Guys, come on, don't do this –"

Mikasa makes a face at him and takes the gi. "Eren. Shut up."

Annie snorts. "Don't freak out," she says, smirking. "It's just a friendly spar, right, Ackerman?"

"Mikasa," Mikasa corrects, and she smirks too.

Too late, Eren wonders if this really was a good idea or if he's just made a terrible mistake.

x

**Some Notes:**

**1) Shout out to Bay for being amazing as usual, and to everyone nice enough to leave feedback. You guys have all been so wonderful and encouraging, and it's just awesome to know you guys are enjoying this so far.**

**2) Shameless self advertising time: I go by the same username on tumblr. *wink wink nudge nudge***


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